"Ha!" I retorted, dusting my hands off as Kusuo held the door for me.
"Good grief," he muttered, walking out behind me.
"That's 1 to 0."
"You better pay me back. That should have been used to buy more coffee jelly for me."
"Oh, quit being so selfish. Sharing is caring."
"Easy to say when you're the one benefiting from it," Saiki grumbled.
I laughed, continuing to tease him about my win. He continued calling me a moron and repeating his smart-ass phrase.
"Hey! There they are!" said a voice.
A blue haired creature tumbled out of the bushes in front of us. He rolled, then shot up abruptly, his face hidden with a cloak. Though it was dark, I could make out red ribbons weaved round his hand.
"Oh- Kaidou," I murmered, backing up in shock.
I heard an 'oof' and realized I'd backed up into Kusuo.
"Can you watch where you're going, idiot?" he snapped, grabbing my shoulders. A shock rippled throughout my body... especially concentrated down there.
"WHOA!" I hissed, leaping back forward. This time I bumped into Kaidou, who unexpectedly was thrown to the ground by the force of my body. Well- more like his lack of strength.
"Ow," he whispered. MY ARM, IT HURTS! I NEED BANDAGES! MY KNEE IS SCRAPED TOO!
"Oh no! I'm so sorry, Kaidou," I said, waving my hands around to emphasize my sincerity. If I made him cry I would face the wrath of both Aren and Chiyo.
"N-no, don't worry about it," he sniffed, rejecting my hand up. Kusuo stood beside me, gazing down at his pathetic state.
"You're an idiot," he told the poor boy.
Kaidou shook it off and cleared his throat. "Ahem- I was looking for you two. Teruhashi said you guys have been missing all night. Where were you guys?"
"We just went on a walk," Kusuo explained.
"Ooh, like a date?" asked Nendou, suddenly dropping from a tree.
"How long have you been there?" asked Kusuo. I was just as perplexed.
"Huh?"
"Look, it wasn't a date. We just wanted to get away from the commotion," I said. If Kusuo had mentioned we went to get coffee jelly, it for sure would have been ruled out as a date.
"Ohh," said Nendou as if he understood.
"Well, we saved you some cake if you'd still like it," said Kaidou. He was holding his arm gingerly, and I couldn't help but feel guilty.
We looked at each other. Though we'd both just had dessert, one more couldn't hurt. "Yeah, sure."
We entered the house and sat on the couch. Most people were outside by the pool, and the girls were picking trash and stuff up.
"You ladies don't have to work too hard," said Takahashi, poking his head in from the outside slide door, "Why don't you come outside and play?"
"Play what..." asked Chiyo carefully. Toritsuka popped I behind Takahashi and winked.
"We're good!" Teruhashi cut him off. She kept sneaking glances at me and Kusuo.
I cant let Y/n and Saiki be alone.
Good lord. What did she think we were gonna do? I was just trying to enjoy my strawberry cake.
"Kokomi, the party isn't near over," whined Imu, a new freshman transfer. "Why can't we just go have fun?"
"Why are you even here?" blurted Chiyo a little aggressively. "Aren't you like 12?"
Imu took offense to that but Teruhashi broke them apart before they could fight.
"Alright, I guess a few more activities are fine!"
"Finally they're gone," muttered Kusuo.
"What? Your strawberries?" I asked over a mouthful.
"The girls, you moron. Did you not catch what Teruhashi was thinking?"
"Oh, yeah. She can be pretty dangerous." Her little scheme to seperate me and Kusuo was a little too advanced. I mean, it's not like I cared to be near him, I was just disturbed.
"So, pals," chirped Nendou, "want to dance?" He was suddenly behind me. I felt his creepy presence tickle my back. How someone that big and loud could sneak up on you like that, I don't know.
"Want to see a card trick?" asked Kaidou, now dressed in a top hat and cape.
"Hold on, where did you get that?" asked Kusuo.
"We're good," I cut the both of them off. "I might leave soon anyways."
"Well in that case, let's get one dance in, alright?"
Before I could reject, Kaidou grabbed my hand and Nendou snagged Saikis. We were led outside to the music.
"I don't dance," Kusuo and I said in unison.
"Then you guys can learn together!" Nendou pushed Kusuo into me. Kaidou almost objected, but then Chiyo asked him to dance.
Nendou disappeared somehow and I was stuck with Saiki again. "Should we just go home?" I asked, opening my eyes to expect an unamused, slightly annoyed Saiki.
"Well," he said instead, "one dance couldn't hurt, right?"
His face was only slightly softened, but it said a lot. The music drifted into a romantic melody a little too suddenly.
"Uh-" I laughed nervously looking up at him. He grabbed my hand and looked at it a while. Tiny pulses rippled through.
"Calm down, I just want to see something."
He intertwined his fingers with mine, both hands. Sparks of electricity trickled throughout my palms, but slowly began to fade. A low hum began to sound.
"Do you hear that?" I asked, confused.
"Are you nervous?"
"No..." I drew in a breath and realized my heartbeat was fairly steady.
"Yeah.. I hear it..." Kusuo pulled me into his arms, one hand on my waist and the other on my shoulder. The humming grew louder, but I noticed shocks began to erupt.
"W-what are you doing-" I blurted. The warmth of his body touched my skin. His fresh cologne clouded my senses, and my cheeks began to blush. I was enchanted by his unlikely charm. His purple eyes gazed into mine, and I felt my heartbeat drift into unison with his. His eyeline flickered to my lips. The air got heavy and my eyelids fell closed as I inhaled his comforting scent. I felt his presence near, his breath so close I could almost taste it.
His head dipped down to my ear and he whispered, "Do you know your powers?" The low humming noise began to fade. Suddenly my eyes popped open again and a heat spread into my cheeks. What was I doing? Allowing myself to indulge in intimacy with him was... wrong.
His breath tickling my ear was too much. I pulled away. My skin felt prickly.
"Well, not fully," I sighed, looking away, "it's complicated. " Saiki grabbed my hand but the sparks separated us again. I dropped my hands to the side, cursing myself for misreading this moment as anything more than a curiosity experiment. How embarrassing.
"I see," he said, wiping his sweater. It made popping noises, like he was wiping off static. "We should start testing as soon as possible."
. . . . . . .
A/N: ty for reading! weve reached 10k reads already!! I'm sorry it took a while to update. I've been going through shit recently. I kinda ran away but failed to escape my "family" 🥲 and i hate my life but hey at least yall like this book, so here's your chapter saiki pic!
hot lol. cya next chap